“Microelectromechanical systems” (MEMS) refers broadly to small, mechanical devices constructed using techniques traditionally associated with integrated circuit wafer processing. In microelectronics, circuits are fabricated on semiconductor wafers upon which minute features are defined by building up and etching back regions of materials with specific electronic properties. Tremendous progress has been made over the past 30 years in making circuits smaller, from the millimeter scale to the micrometer scale to today's nanometer scale features.
Tools for semiconductor processing have become more widely available as the microelectronics industry has matured and that has helped create opportunities for microfabrication of new mechanical devices. These microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) include miniaturized gears, levers, cantilevers, springs, etc. However, physical scaling laws show that mechanical devices on a micro scale can operate quite differently from their everyday cousins and have vastly superior performance in some respects. In other words, they are not simply smaller, but also different. (See, for example, Kurt Petersen, “Silicon as a Mechanical Material”, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 70, No. 5, May 1982, pages 420-457.)
Perhaps the most important feature defining MEMS in contrast to microelectronics is that MEMS may contain moving parts. In most cases, such as MEMS accelerometers or MEMS oscillators, the moving parts must be protected from the environment. A recent advance in MEMS technology is the development of techniques for wafer-level encapsulation of mechanical structures. Encapsulation provides for not only protection of the mechanical components but also for direct integration with electronic devices in the wafer.
A promising encapsulation technique is described by Partridge, et al. in “Microelectromechanical systems, and methods for encapsulating and fabricating same,” US Patent Application Publication US 2004/0248344 A1, incorporated herein by reference. Partridge discloses, in part, a thin-film polysilicon encapsulation process that can increase the die count on a wafer by nearly an order of magnitude without a corresponding increase in cost. This technique is showing utility for of micromechanical resonators but has yet to be fully applied to structures that are more likely to come into contact like accelerometers.
Industry experience suggests that accelerometers require anti-stiction coatings for full functionality. An anti-stiction coating prevents silicon surfaces from creating a temporary or permanent bond (stiction) if they touch. Parts in a MEMS accelerometer sometimes come into contact with each other. It is important that they not stick together otherwise the function of the device is ruined. Organic films have been used as anti-stiction coatings in conventional MEMS processes. These films are rarely capable of withstanding process temperatures above about 450 C, however.
The final stages of recent and successful encapsulation methods involve processes at temperatures of at least 450 C and often as high as 800 C or above. No suitable organic film anti-stiction coating has been found that is compatible with these processes. Therefore what is needed is a method of incorporating a high-temperature anti-stiction film in a modern encapsulation process.